Post on 17-Dec-2015
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Menu – for all parts of the presentation
Key questions Part one
Who were the Irish Vikings?
The first Viking attack
The first phase – raiding, 795 – c. 830
Ireland – an easy target 1? - rich monasteries
Ireland – an easy target 2? - political divisions
Pagans versus Christians
The second phase – settlement This part
Viking Dublin
The first Dublin
The second Dublin
Linking British & Irish history
The end of Viking power in Ireland ? Part 3
Notes, etc.
Timeline Part one
Historical novels Part one
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After 840 the Vikings began to settle in Ireland.
At first, they occupied winter bases.
Then they settled permanently,
establishing towns at Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork and Limerick
joining in the life of the country
taking part in internal Irish wars
making Ireland a centre of European trade
introducing the use of money
influencing art, language, folklore and placenames.
The second phase – settlement
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Viking Dublin
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The Vikings established Dublin twice.
In 841 they set up a permanent trading cum pirate based, called longphort by the native Irish writers.
This lasted until about 902, when the Irish kings formed an alliance and expelled the Viking inhabitants.
The exiles went to the North-West and North-East of England and to Scotland.
The first Dublin
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In or about 917 the descendants of the earlier Dublin established are real town.
It was described as dún according to native writers.
Dublin became an enclosed town, with streets, plots, pathways, houses and trades.
We know a lot about this second Dublin because of a series of archaeological excavations.
The second Dublin
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Foundation remains of house, Fishamble Street
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Drawing of foundation remains of house, Fishamble Street
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Wattle walls
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Reconstruction of house, Fishamble Street
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Five different types of buildings
The houses had, however, some characteristics in common:
rectangular in plan (all)
post-and-wattle walls (nearly all)
hipped rather than gabled endwalls (most)
thatched with straw (nearly all).
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Model houses
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How Viking Age Dubliners looked note the shoes and personal ornaments
Man’s gold finger ring
Child’s leather boot
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Fragments
Fragments of finely woven
woollen garments,
possibly made in Dublin
Fragment of an edging consisting of gold thread on a silk backing imported from the
East
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The heads of three ringed-pins (top) and a miniature kite-shaped brooch, all in bronze.
Both types of dress fasteners are examples of native Irish fashions which became very popular in Viking Dublin.
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Trial bone piece
Sketch of ship scratched on plank in 11th century context
Model or toy wooden boat
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Trades & crafts
Sketch showing the variety of crafts archaeologically documented in Viking Dublin:
Wood-workers – builders, carpenters, coopers, turners
Workers in antler and bone
Blacksmiths
Non-ferrous metalsmiths
Spinners and weavers
Amber-workers
Stone-workers
Leather workers.
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Weapons & tools
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This selection of objects was found in Dublin in the 1850s.
It includes bronze and bone pins, iron knives, pieces of cut bone and antler and a portion of a decorated bone plaque.
The circumstances of the find were meticulously recorded on labels attached to the objects.
The label on the wooden seat in the top right-hand corner reads:
‘Found in Bog stuff 12ft below present surface of Werburgh St Dublin on sinking for Main Sewer.
May 1856’
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Burials
The burials in the Viking cemetery at Islandbridge-Kilmainham included those of warriors, distinguished by the weapons which accompanied them - right.
Women were sometimes buried with bronze oval brooches - below.
These brooches were worn in pairs and connected by silver chains or strings of glass or amber beads.
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Viking mummy
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Trading 1 – with the rest of Ireland
This picture shows how Dublin depended on the hinterland for foodstuffs and the supply of its building and industrial needs.
Imports
Cattle, sheep, cereals, fruits, berries, nuts
Shed antler – the inset shows a range of antler waste in the comb-making area of the town
Lead, copper
Exports
Silver, combs, brooches
Exotic foodstuffs, wine and beer
Clothes, shoes
Weapons and other implements.
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Lead weights used to weight silver and coins
which are themselves units of silver weight.
Commercial tools
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Trading 2 - centre of international trade
‘Filled with the wealth of barbarians’
‘The richest port in the whole Irish Sea area’
‘One of the richest in Western Europe’
When a Dublin woman arrived in Iceland, she had fine bed linen, English sheets, a silk blanket, drapery and other items ‘so costly that nothing like it had been seen before’.
Bracelets made from imported lignite
Silver brooches
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Imports & exports
Artic – walrus ivory
Baltic – amber
Central Europe - cornelian
Near East – silver, silk
Normandy - walnuts
NW Europe – weapons, glass
Rome – pilgrims’ souvenirs
Rhineland – walnuts
Chester – pottery, salt,
Cornwall – tin
London – weapons, disc brooches
Norwich - pottery
South-east - plums
South-west - pottery
Yorkshire – lignite
Scotland – soapstone vessels
Wales - horses
Grain, other provisions
Hire of ships
Jewellery
Leather, hides, pelts
Slaves
Woollens, cloth
Imports Exports Britain Europe
Rejects of imported amber
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Linking British & Irish history
The histories of Vikings Ireland and Viking Britain are very closely linked.
First, there are the trade links.
Secondly, there was the movement of people.
Vikings moved regularly between Ireland and Britain.
In the early 10th century Viking settlers who had been living in Dublin crossed the Irish Sea and settled in Wirral.
The same Viking leaders crop up sometimes ruling parts of Ireland and at other times ruling parts of Britain.
Imports from Britain
Chester – pottery, salt,
Cornwall – tin
London – weapons, disc brooches
Norwich - pottery
South-east - plums
South-west - pottery
Yorkshire – lignite
Scotland – soapstone vessels
Wales - horses
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One of the most famous these roving kings was Olaf Curran, ‘Olaf of the Shoes’.
He was very fond of leather goods of the highest quality.
Beautifully tanned Irish leathers were an important part of Dublin’s export business.
A Christian, he was at one time King of both Dublin and Northumbria.
He was twice expelled from Northumbria and lost Dublin in 980 at the Battle of Tara.
He died a penitent at the monastery of Iona in 981.
Olaf of the Shoes